Professor Ruth Evans - University of Reading

Staff Profile:Professor Ruth Evans

Name:

Professor Ruth Evans

Job Title:

Professor

Responsibilities:

Undergraduate Teaching: Culture and Development in Africa, Culture, Identity and Place, Geographies of Development, Dissertation
SAGES Diversity and Wellbeing committee member, chair of postgraduate Advisory Panels

Areas of Interest:

Geographies of care and family relations, especially young caregiving, disability, HIV and chronic illness
'Bereavement', responses to death and inheritance
Land politics, food security and gender and intergenerational relations in West Africa
Sibling relationships and child- and youth-headed households in East Africa
Geographies of Children, Youth and Families
Childhood, care and migration in the UK
Social exclusion/ inclusion and the participation of marginalised groups in research and policy

Postgraduate Supervision:

Ruth is interested in supervising research students on gender and intergenerational relations, bereavement and care or land politics and inheritance.

Recent PhD graduates:

Agnes Atim: Participatory healthcare delivery in post conflict transition in northern Uganda
Gudbjörg Ottósdóttir: Care and disability in refugee families in the South-East of England (2015).
Gary Downing: Disabled young people's socio-sexual networks and transitions in the UK (2015).
Yaw Adjei-Amoako: Experiences of disability and inclusive development in Ghana: facilitating factors and barriers to participation (2014).
Caroline Day: Making the Transition to Adulthood in Zambia: A Comparison of the Experiences of Caregiving and Non-Caregiving Youth (2014).
Phoebe Foy-Phillips: Cultures of young parenting, gendered identities and rurality (2014).

Research groups / Centres:

Key facts:

Ruth's research focuses on two central areas of interest: 1) geographies of care and family relations in diverse contexts and 2) land politics and gendered and generational relations. She is currently leading a Leverhulme Trust-funded project, Death in the Family in Urban Senegal: Bereavement, Care and Family Relations and recently led a series of dissemination workshops in Senegal. Download the Research Report and Executive Summary and see the project blog for the press release, Rapport et Résumé (versions français) and more information.

Ruth and colleagues hosted a Symposium on Family Troubles: Care and Change in Diverse Contexts on 16 September 2015, University of Reading. The Symposium included: 21 papers and plenaries on the themes of the meanings of 'family' and (troubling) changes in family lives; care and interdependencies and intergenerational relations in diverse household forms; support for 'troubled' families; responses to death and 'bereavement'; life-limiting illness and family caring practices. Ruth and colleagues presented key findings from their cross-cultural research on Caringscapes, Responses to Death and Family Relations in Urban Senegal. Rebecca Smith, Save the Children, Dr. Avril Maddrell, University of the West of England, Isobel Bremmer, Candle Project, St Christopher's Hospice and Prof. Rosalind Edwards, University of Southampton gave insightful comments about the findings and it led to a stimulating discussion with the audience. For the programme, including slides of plenaries and paper presentations, click programme and see the deathinthefamilyinsenegal for presenters' reflections on the Symposium and further updates.

Ruth recently completed a collaborative research project with colleagues at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana on Access to Land, Food Security and he Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana (2012-15), including a video here and recently published article in Geoforum (2015). Recent research has focused on Inheritance, Access to Resources and Family Relations in Senegal (2011-12) and Palm Oil, Land Rights and Ecosystems Services in Liberia (2012-13) (reports are available below).

Ruth and Caroline Day led dissemination workshops with young people with caring responsibilities in Zambia in 2014. Watch the video or read more about the research here.

Ruth also completed a study on stigma, gender and generational inequalities in asset inheritance and the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Tanzania and Uganda (with Caroline Day), funded by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2010-11). Read more about the project here. From 2008-2010, Ruth conducted a qualitative, participatory study of young people's caring responsibilities for their siblings within child- and youth- headed households in Tanzania and Uganda, funded by the RGS-IBG and the University of Reading (2008-10). (See Research Report and articles below).

Recently published and in press articles focus on achieving and evidencing 'impact' from an ethic of care perspective (Area), gendered and generational struggles over land in rural Ghana and Senegal (Geoforum) amd Senegal (Gender, Place and Culture), the effects of parental death on young people and intergenerational care and responsibility in Senegal (Social and Cultural Geography, 2014), sibling caringscapes and life transitions (Geoforum, 2012; Area, 2011), and safeguarding inherited assets and enhancing the resilience of young people living in child- and youth-headed households in Tanzania and Uganda (African Journal of AIDS Research, 2012), care, disability and HIV in Africa (with Agnes Atim, Third World Quarterly, 2011), caring relations in African migrant families in the UK (Population, Space and Place, 2011) and emotional geographies and an ethics of care within families affected by HIV (with Felicity Thomas) (Emotions, Space and Society, 2009).

Her book (co-authored with Prof. Saul Becker, 2009, The Policy Press), Children Caring for Parents with HIV and AIDS: Global Issues and Policy Responses draws on findings from an ESRC study of the experiences of children caring for parents and relatives with HIV in Tanzania and the UK, conducted while Ruth was based at University of Nottingham (2006-2007). For more information about the research, read the news article: Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS or download the Stakeholder Report (PDF 1652KB) and Executive Summary (PDF 539KB) .

While based at the University of Hull (2001-2002) and University of Birmingham (2003-2006), Ruth worked on a number of research projects that investigated the social exclusion/ inclusion of children and young people and their participation in policy initiatives in the UK. Ruth's doctoral research at the University of Hull (2002-2004) explored the gendered 'street careers' of young people and the impacts of HIV on children and families in Tanzania.